Old Foes, New Friends
by isobeljones2000
Summary: This is a story that follows up from the episode 'Friend or Foe' in Series 1 of WvA. It's set a few months later, in between Series 1 and 2. When an old foe turns up on Tom's doorstep, he makes the Clarke family an offer they can't refuse - to never be bothered by the Nekross again! How could anyone achieve that? But how could they turn such an offer down? NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

It all began with the knock on the door.

"Ooh, who could that be?" wondered Ursula cheerfully, as she bustled around the kitchen dusting the surfaces with a huge pink feather duster.

Tom shrugged from his position slumped at the table, picking at his breakfast half-heartedly. It was an unusually hot humid day for Britain, and everyone was suffering. "I'm not expecting anyone."

"Not even that nice girl Katie?" Ursula asked innocently.

Tom rolled his eyes. "No."

"Well go and see who it is," Ursula prompted him, tickling him on the back of the neck with her feather duster. "Don't want to keep anyone waiting on our doorstep."

The teenage boy sighed, but got up reluctantly, knowing no one else was going to get the door.

He opened the door, expecting to see Benny, or maybe Katie, or maybe even fierce Nekross brandishing ray guns. It wouldn't have been the first time that had happened, after all.

But he hadn't been expecting this.

"Hello, Thomas Clarke," said the man he had once known as Adams. "I need your help."

* * *

It had been a slow day for the Nekross.

Varg had been pacing up and down the flight deck, muttering to himself and occasionally stopping to hit a screen or a keyboard in frustration. Lexi had grown annoyed at this act after the first hour or so, but she supposed she couldn't really blame him. They were all just hungry, after all. And this was the second day without even a drop of magic to sustain them. Technically they could survive for a while without magic, but having had very limited amounts of it over the past few weeks, then having none for whole days at a time - it wasn't good for anyone. Lexi ached for just one full meal, just one time when she didn't have the harsh ache of insatiable hunger tearing at the interior of her stomach like a raging animal.

But ever since the wizard Shroud had gone up around the human Earth, magic takings had been few and far between. Sure, they got lucky sometimes, with some chance findings of easy magic, or if there was a particularly strong spell that broke through just the right area of the Shroud to get to their sensors. But those occurrences were happening less and less. Any small findings of faint magic wouldn't even properly feed the weakest Nekross guard. Plus the Nekross on the ship had run out of magic supplies. They had sent the last scraps back to Nekron, so at least their people wouldn't starve. But there had been none left to feed the Nekross left on the ship. Lexi didn't like to think negatively, but she knew they were slowly starving. There was no point in denying it. Naivety was not an attribute of Nekross.

"Argh! Wizarding scum!" Varg cried out for the fourth time that day. "Why do they elude us?"

Lexi decided not to reply. There wasn't any point arguing with Varg any more, not when they were all bitter, weakened and hungry.

"We haven't picked up any magical sources on Earth for two days!" Varg complained, resuming his pacing.

His sister rolled her eyes at his back, but quickly put on an innocent expression when he turned. "We're all hungry, brother."

Varg didn't appear to hear her. "When I get my hands on those wizards, I'm going to -"

Lexi sighed under her breath. It was going to be a long, hungry day.

* * *

"You?!" Tom breathed in disbelief and fear, preparing to click his fingers and cast a spell. Whatever Adams wanted, it couldn't be good.

"Wait! Don't cast a spell yet!" Adams implored. "You need to hear what I have to say!"

"Well you certainly valued my opinion the last time you kidnapped me!" Tom retorted.

"I understand you don't trust me, but I have a proposition for you," the older man told him fervently. "Can I come in?"

"Who are you doing the dirty work for this time?" Tom asked. "Since Stephanie Gaunt met her well-deserved end."

Adams tilted his head proudly. "I am the manager this time. I do my own dirty work, as you so eloquently put it."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Well done you. You got a promotion from mindless minion."

Adams sighed. "I understand. You can't trust me. But wouldn't you like to get rid of your alien adversaries - for good?"

That got the boy's attention. Tom looked up at Adams, startled. "You mean - the Nekross. Who you attempted to kidnap and failed once before. You're trying again?"

"We can take them out of the equation for you," offered Adams. "That's why I'm here. To offer you a proposition."

Just then, Ursula came around the corner smiling. "Who is it, Tom? Oh -" Her eyes widened and the smile dropped off her face as she saw who was standing at the door.

Tom sighed. "You had better come in..."


	2. Chapter 2

The Clarke family regarded Adams with hostility and wary suspicion as he sat awkwardly across from them at the table. Michael's eyes were narrowed and Ursula looked worried, one hand resting lightly on her staff under the table. Tom didn't like this any more than they did, but he had quickly had a muttered conversation with them about Adams' unknown 'proposition' and they had agreed that it would be worth hearing him out.

"So what do you want?" Tom begun.

Adams smiled. "The same thing as you, honestly. Well, maybe not exactly the same thing, but I still have a way to solve both of our obvious problems."

" _Your_ problem being...?" Tom prompted doubtfully.

"The Gaunt company is disgraced and unworthy," Adams replied. At their surprised expressions he continued. "What - you thought that without Gaunt the company would just fizzle out of existence? No, there's always a backup plan, in this case me. I took over, but unlike Gaunt I have no wish for wizards."

"Is that right?" Ursula asked sceptically. "You seemed pretty keen last time. When you kidnapped my grandson."

"Yeah, because we're kind of reluctant to trust you now," Michael reasoned coolly. "Are you sure you don't have your soldiers surrounding our house to 'ensure our cooperation' or whatever?"

"No. Well - yes, they are in the nearby vicinity," Adams amended. Seeing the Unenchanted's look, he hurried on. "But they're just here for the next stage of the plan. Setting up equipment and so forth."

"Oh really? You seem pretty confident that we're going to agree to help you," Tom noted.

Adams smiled. "I'm an optimistic man. Anyway, once we had recovered the data that the alien had deleted -" he begun, subtly changing the subject.

"Wait - you were able to recover the data that Lexi deleted?" Tom cut in.

"Parts of it, yes. Gaunt saved a back up file to an external database," Adams explained, which just made Ursula look even more confused. "Parts of the alien file was untraceable, but we got enough to work on, to do our research on, to make our plans. But we didn't bother recovering the wizard files because I'm not interested in you. No offence meant, of course. I still find magic intriguing, but I'm interested in the much bigger discovery which will make us famous - alien life, right here!"

"So you want to do what, exactly?" Tom asked.

"Discover them," Adams said immediately. "Research them. Don't you see how amazing they could be to scientific discoveries?"

"You wouldn't -" Tom begun hesitantly. "Hurt them, would you? It's just that -"

 _Lexi_ , he wanted to say, but said nothing.

Adams smiled reassuringly. "We wouldn't. Your wizarding code prevents it, I know. And besides, why would we hurt our valuable specimens?"

Tom felt relieved, but something inside him was telling him that it wasn't right. Bizarrely, Lexi's voice was ringing out inside his head in her familiar tones. _Allies_ , it whispered softly. _Why would you help me? I'm your enemy_.

 _Shut up, Lexi,_ Tom thought angrily. _We haven't been allies for a long time. And you never acted like we were once friends when you were draining the magic and the life out of countless wizards. Why should we spare you now?_

Lexi, or at least Lexi's voice, had no answer to that one.

"Let me put it this way," said the man, apparently sensing Tom's distraction. "What, Tom Clarke, is your greatest, most powerful wish?"

"For the Nekross not to be a threat to wizardkind," replied Tom automatically, before realising what he had said and faltering.

"Exactly." Adams looked triumphant. "They will never bother you again. And we will have our prize."

"I'm not sure about this..." Michael said slowly. "You really have no interest in magic, or wizards? You're just interested in the Nekross, wizardkind's greatest enemies?"

"Yes," answered Adams confidently. "Once you have helped us with this little thing, we will disappear and you will never have to be bothered by us - or your alien foes - again."

Tom met the eyes of his gran. Ursula was wide eyed but when she saw Tom looking at her she mouthed: "What do you think?"

"Not sure," Tom mouthed back.

Adams watched their little exchange patiently, then sat back and asked calmly: "So? What is your answer to be? Will you help us?"

Ursula paused, then gave a swift certain nod in Tom's direction. "They've plagued us too long. They've murdered a thousand innocent wizards just on Earth, and I never want them to be able to get their scaly hands on any of my family. If this is the way to deal with them once and for all, for a good scientific cause - I say yes."

Adams focused his deep brown eyes on Tom's. "Thomas?"

Instead of answering straight away, Tom flashed a look at Michael. "Dad?"

"I say yes," Michael said firmly. "For the same reasons as Ursula."

Finally Tom looked back at Adams, meeting his old foe's expressionless eyes. "Fine. We'll help you. What do we have to do?"

* * *

"Lexi! Psst! Lexi!"

Lexi looked around her, hearing the whispered tones of her brother in confusion but seeing no one. It wasn't like Varg to whisper anywhere; he was normally loud and authoritative. Or thought he was, at any rate.

"Lexi!" the voice repeated. "Over here! In this corridor! Quick!"

Lexi followed the hissed voice in slight trepidation, finding her brother crouched in a darkened corridor. It struck her suddenly how tired her elder brother looked, and how his posture was slightly different to his usual proud stance: more hunched and guarded. "Brother? Does something ail you?" she asked curiously.

Varg put a finger to his lips quickly and instead passed Lexi an object in his hand. It was cylinder-shaped, very small and metallic in texture.

"What is this?" Lexi whispered.

Varg looked around quickly and leant in. "Sustenance. For now. This contains a tiny amount of magic that I was able to scrape from the vaults, and you need to eat, sister. Father can't see us here; he can't find out."

Lexi's tentacles immediately curled and moved of their own accord at the notion of fresh magic. It was only then that she realised the true extent of her hunger. Ignoring it helped it go away somewhat, but when there was the prospect of food, her empty stomach began to realise it was being tricked.

"Have you eaten yet?" Lexi asked.

Varg paused a fraction too long before replying coolly in the affirmative. "Yes. This is for you, sister." She knew him too well to know when he was lying to her, and now was one of those times.

"But Father..." Lexi said weakly, while her whole body craved the magic that she was being offered.

Varg made a 'pah' sort of sound. "We need to eat. Father won't get any magic at all of we don't go out and get it for him. And he's certainly not starving, much as he may complain of his insatiable hunger. And starving ourselves won't help anyone."

Fair point. Lexi wasn't sure if she had ever heard her brother speak of their father in the discerning, dismissive tones that he used now. These blasphemous thoughts had certainly run through her mind more than once. She hadn't been aware that Varg felt the same way. Maybe the lack of food was getting to him, causing his uncharacteristic actions of both kindness towards her and spite towards their father.

Lexi opened the cylinder with a deft twist of her index finger. It was truly a meagre amount of magic inside, but it would be enough for a short while. Before she could try and argue any more, some of the magic flowed into her open mouth and tentacles. It was barely a sip before Lexi forced herself to stop, handing the cylinder quickly back to her brother before she could absorb any more.

Varg looked into the cylinder's interior with confusion written on his features. "There's still some in here, Lexi."

Lexi swallowed her hunger down. "Yes. For you."

"I told you, I already had some," Varg insisted.

His younger sister rolled her eyes. "I'm no fool, Varg. Don't try and lie to me. Now eat. You need your strength as much as I."

Varg was smart; he knew when he was beaten. He said no more, but his expression was grateful as he downed the last mouthful of glistening magic, savouring the warmth of it as Lexi had done just presently before. It wouldn't last them for long, but it could be the difference between survival and death until they could find their next magic-rich meal.

Lexi just hoped that it would be soon.

* * *

"Just one spell. That's all I ask."

"Just one spell?" Tom repeated sceptically. "That's it?"

"That's it," Adams promised. "Then you can leave and you'll never hear from us again."

"Any spell we like?" Ursula asked. "Even a tiny mundane one?"

"Any spell, any size. It would be good if you could both do it just so we're sure we have enough power, but the type of spell doesn't matter."

"How is performing one spell going to help in your plan?" Michael asked curiously.

Adams smiled in genuine excitement. "We're going to lure the aliens down with magic - in this case, a spell. They eat magic, right? And when a wizard performs a spell, they pick it up on their sensors and come down. Correct?"

"Correct," Tom agreed. "But that doesn't happen as often now. In fact, we haven't seen old pineapple heads in a while now. Ever since we put the Wizard Shroud up."

Luckily, Adams didn't look surprised at the mention of the Shroud. "Well, we have built a amplifier to basically amplify and boost the signal that the magic is giving out into space, so it's strong enough for the aliens to pick up even through the Shroud."

"You seem to know an awful lot about it," Ursula mused.

"We've done a lot of research," Adams agreed.

Ursula still looked cautious. "How do we know that you're not filming us performing a spell that you can use as proof or something?"

"You can choose the spot where we do it," Adams offered. "You know this town much better than me, after all. And that will ensure that we're not filming you with hidden cameras or anything like that."

Ursula seemed satisfied by this answer. "You seem to have thought of everything," she complimented drily. "And if this works, we'll have an awful lot to thank you for."

"If this works, you won't have to see us again," Adams reasoned.

Tom finally allowed himself to feel hopeful for the first time. If it actually worked, they would never be attacked by the Nekross again, no more wizards would die for no reason, and he would be freer to be a normal boy as well as a young wizard.

"So, when shall we start?"


	3. Chapter 3

Adams looked slowly around him, regarding the small space with apparent satisfaction. After muttered deliberation with his family over where best to perform the spell, Tom had brought Adams about a mile away, to an old park that no one used anymore. The surrounding trees stood tall around them, and there was a good space of clear lawn in the middle. No one was about, and Tom was fairly confident no one should come, not with the much bigger, newer park just around the corner.

"Will this do?" Tom asked with a slight grin hiding his nervousness, both anticipative and apprehensive for what was to come.

"This will suffice," Adams said with a smile. "Thank you, Tom Clarke. Let's set up our equipment, and then we can begin."

The two men - that had seemed to just appear next to Adams while they were walking - nodded, and one barked a quick command into his radio. Tom heard the muted sound of tyres scraping on gravel nearby, and tensed slightly. But it was just four more men, carrying things that looked like speakers and a large unfamiliar silver machine.

"Set it up here," Adams ordered, gesturing to a space hidden slightly by the trees, yet still in the open. The men got to work, expertly plugging in cables from the two speaker things to the machine, while Tom and his family watched in bemusement.

Ursula looked uncomfortable and murmured to Tom: "Are you sure about this, Tom? This could easily be a trap."

"No, I'm not sure," Tom confessed honestly. "But there's only one way to find out. Anyway, we have to take the chance. We could get rid of the Nekross forever."

"And anyway, if they wanted to kidnap any of us, surely they would have just done it by now," reasoned Michael. "There would be no point in tricking us, dragging us all the way here, setting up a bunch of random equipment in an unused park just to kidnap us."

Tom had to concede he had a point. "Just one spell, Gran. Then we're out of here."

Ursula nodded. "It'll definitely be worth it if it works. No more scaly pineapple headed aliens knocking at our door demanding our magic. I've seen the inside of that spaceship more times than I'd like to count."

"It is ready," cut in a soft voice, and Adams was smiling at them, seeming genuinely friendly as he held out his hand. "Come help me make history."

* * *

Lexi stood against a wall next to one of the monitors, her eyes half-closed, trying to replicate the warm flushing sensation that the magic had briefly brought to her body. But it was no use, as she had known, the tiny fraction of magic was long gone from her system. A sip went nowhere when you were a starving race, and all too soon the ache of hunger had returned with a vengeance, seeming to be a physical pain stabbing her in the side of the chest. She almost wished she had declined the offer of the magic, it had only served to extenuate her hunger and make it sharper; now that her body had tasted some, it immediately wanted more.

Varg had come back onto the Flight Deck shortly after her. They hadn't come on together to as not to arouse suspicion, it would be uncharacteristic of the siblings to spend time together unless they were plotting something. Now her brother was stood, tall and straight, evidently feeling the same effects of the hunger that she was. His eyes were clouded over with an unreadable expression and Lexi hadn't attempted to make any contact. What was there to say?

After a while of moody silence, Technician Jathro 15 came onto the Flight Deck, carrying an unfamiliar object the size of his hand and looking very pleased with himself for some reason.

"Is there an explanation to why you're beaming like an idiot, Technician?" inquired Lexi sharply, somehow grateful for something to occupy her mind besides her hunger. She wasn't in the kind of mood to jest with technicians.

Jathro flushed slightly but regained his composure. "I have been putting the final touches to the upgrade of the magic tracker, Excellencies. It will now be able to record where magic was last performed and where the source has gone since then. It will hopefully improve our findings by a calculated 27% efficiency."

Suddenly Varg stepped out from his position next to the opposite monitor and shoved Jathro hard in the chest plates of his armour, causing him to stumble backwards in shock. "What use is your magical tracker when we are getting no magic in the first place? Why don't you invent something that will actually help us find magic, not track it further once we get there? In case you haven't noticed, we are starving here. Actually, physically starving. Invent something to help that, or leave us alone!" Then Varg was moving, storming away over the Flight Deck until he had disappeared down one of the corridors.

Lexi sighed. She couldn't blame Varg for his outburst; his statements were true. Still, she had to feel a pang of pity for the technician who was standing there looking a little shaken and forlorn. Maybe it was this pity, or maybe the lack of food that prompted her to step forward out of her position towards the technician.

He visibly flinched as she got closer, obviously assuming that she was about to hit him as well. Lexi instead awkwardly rested a hand on the shoulder plate of his armour in an attempt of comforting him. "Ignore my brother's fury. He is just hungry, as are we all. He meant nothing of what he said."

Jathro smiled weakly. "Thank you, Excellency. Your words bring me solace."

"Solace is what we need in these uncertain times," Lexi agreed, as she did so wondering why she was deigning to hold a conversation with the lower-ranked technician.

The technician looked slightly calmer. "This is certainly true."

Just as Lexi was about to do something else, comfort him further maybe, or inquire as to the properties of the upgraded tracker in an attempt to distract them both, klaxons began to blare overhead. Magic had been found. And just in time, too.

* * *

Tom linked hands with his gran, who met his eyes nervously. "Are you ready for this, Tom?"

He nodded. "Ready - I think."

Adams looked excited and serious all at the same time. "Okay, so I am going to hold up this machine here in between you. When you perform the spell, this will record the energy given out by your magic, and send it to the modified speakers over there. They will then magnify the power by 35 and send it out into space. That should be enough power to bypass your Magical Shroud and reach the aliens."

"Science and magic," Tom murmured softly. "This could actually work."

"Hopefully the aliens will pick it up, thinking it's a powerful source as we have magnified it," said Adams. "And they will come down, hopefully more than one of them."

"We haven't had any sightings of them for a while now," Tom remembered. "I'm willing to bet they're hungry." Little did he know how true his casual statement was.

Adams nodded. "Let's hope so. Ready?"

Tom nodded, blinked a couple of times, then squeezed Ursula's hand. That was the signal.

"Go!" instructed Adams.

"Rarsh ... mann ... dah!" said both wizards slowly, clicking at exactly the same time and watching as magic joined from both their fingertips to create one spell. Up above them, a single yellow flower appeared in mid air, floating softly down, raised a little by the light breeze.

Adams watched the spell being cast in an expression of awe, then quickly composed himself and lifted up the metallic object into the space between Ursula and Tom. The magic disappeared into thin air, and the machine buzzed to show that energy had been collected.

"It worked!" Adams said excitedly.

Ursula deftly caught the flower on the tip of her manicured finger as it floated down, catching Tom's sceptical eye as she did so. "What? It was the first thing that came into my head!"

Meanwhile, the energy was travelling quickly down both cables into the modified speakers, and a faint humming showed that the energy was being magnified into the air, hopefully up into space. Adams' eyes were bright as he stared up into the air, apparently looking for telltale traces of the copious amounts of magical energy that was being broadcast up through the Shroud - but of course there was nothing. They could only hope that it had worked, as there wasn't any real way of knowing.

As the last residue of the magical energy broadcast into space, the machine beeped once to show it was gone. Tom and Ursula sighed in relief. "Is that it? Did we do it?" Ursula asked.

Adams nodded. "It seems we did. Now it would be safer for you to go, just in case this plan doesn't go to - well - plan. We don't want the aliens actually getting their desired meal."

Much as Tom was reluctant to leave, he had to concede that Adams had a point. "Ok," he agreed. "Good luck with capturing the Nekross."

"You're gonna need it," said Michael encouragingly.

Adams inclined his head in respect. "Thank you for the service you have done us."

"Let's just hope it was worth it," said Tom. "Let's go, Gran, before the Nekross get down here."

So as the wizarding family left the abandoned park chatting in lowered voices, Adams and the soldiers set up their equipment obscured in the bush, and settled down to wait for their prize.


	4. Chapter 4

Varg's eyes were wide as he raced back onto the Flight Deck which he had left only a minute before, skidding to a halt next to Lexi, who was standing at a monitor. "Klaxons..." was all he could say breathlessly.

Lexi smiled at him. "Magic sighting," she confirmed.

The relief was clear and shared on both of their faces at the prospect of a meal. "I'll go down!" Varg offered immediately.

"I'll go with you," Lexi agreed quickly. She knew her actions were illogical; it didn't matter who brought it up to the ship, but it had been a while since a magical sighting, and both siblings wanted to go. The feeling of the increasing hunger at the thought of actually getting magic was difficult to ignore, and having to wait for it even more interminable.

Varg didn't waste time arguing. "Technician, with us," he ordered, already beginning to march over to where the transportation pad was.

Jathro looked shocked. "M me, Excellencies?" he inquired incredulously.

"Looks like you get a chance to test out your improved magic tracker after all," Lexi commented with an uncharacteristic wink as she passed Jathro. The technician looked dazed but hurried to catch up with the two royals.

They were finally going to get a meal.

"Do you think we've done the right thing?" Tom asked Ursula. They were walking back to their house through the newer park, leaving the vans and the science behind in the field they had left.

"Trapping the Nekross?" Ursula enquired.

Tom sighed. "Putting it like that - yes."

Ursula paused, before pulling Tom into a warm hug. "I don't think we've done the right thing. I _know_ we've done the right thing."

"How can you be so sure?" Tom asked worriedly.

Ursula met his eyes with a steely expression. "Because this means that no more wizards will be taken. Because this means you're safe. And all of your friends are safe as well. Because I know I don't need to be worried any more when you're out because you could be snatched by those things. We could have just saved wizardkind."

"If it works," Tom reminded her.

"If it works," Ursula agreed. "But Adams is a powerful man, running a powerful company. They will take care of the Nekross, leaving us to take care of ourselves. At last."

Michael smiled, patting Tom on the shoulder. "Your gran's right, son. We'll be safe. And Adams said he promised not to hurt the Nekross. It'll all be fine."

Tom nodded. "Thanks. I guess I was just overthinking it." As he spoke he forced the image of Lexi out of his mind. She didn't mean anything. Not any more.

"Now shall we go and celebrate?" Michael asked.

"Pizza?"

"Always."

Tom grinned. "I could get used to this."

Adams was the first to see them emerge from out of the wooded area, looking around their surroundings and conversing in soft voices. Two of them, familiar from when they had first captured the aliens. The female, Lexi, and the male, her brother Varg. This was better than he could have hoped: two aliens, not just one. A feeling of excitement raced through his body that he hadn't felt for a while. It had worked! He hadn't been 100% sure that it would, but it turned out that it did. He was slightly disappointed not to have witnessed them beaming down from their spaceship, but he guessed he could live with that.

He made a quick gesture to the men crouched behind him to wait. "Not yet," he ordered softly. "Wait for the right moment..."

Lexi shook her head to dispell the slight disorientation that she always got when beaming down onto Earth. They had just beamed down amongst a group of trees, and all of them blinked in the sudden sunlight. Lexi could feel the pleasurable sensation of its warmth on her skin. Varg had a grimace on his face, so she guessed he didn't find it quite so pleasant.

"Now, Technician, you use your improved scanner to scan the area for proximity of magic," Varg ordered sharply.

Jathro obediently raised his arm and moved around a little, scanning around for magical traces. Lexi, while waiting for the results, laid her gloved palm on the trunk of a tree next to her, running her fingers over the unfamiliar grooves in its surface. Many aspects of Earth fascinated her, and she didn't often get the chance to experience them first-hand.

"The magic was performed only fourteen point three five metres west from our current location," Jathro stated efficiently. "However from this angle I cannot deduce which way the source has travelled since then. I will need to follow its trajectory for a little way first."

Lexi quickly removed her palm from the tree, realising she had been pressing it softly to the trunk for over twenty seconds. Varg gave her an odd look, but mercifully said nothing. "Go then, Technician," she said. "Do your scans. We will await your return."

Jathro bowed awkwardly, and was swift to hurry away through the trees until he was out of sight, his eyes glued to the scanner on his wrist as he went.

"I hope this new scanner works," Varg commented casually. "Nekron knows we could do with a meal. And soon, as well."

"You too, brother?" Lexi inquired softly, concern slipping into her voice.

Varg didn't try and deny it. He was never very good at lying to his shrewd sister, who could generally sniff out a lie from a mile away. "I too. It seems odd, that such a simple basic requirement as hunger could be such a potent key to our downfall."

It was the first time Varg had mentioned the prospect of starvation aloud, though Lexi knew that it had been in both of their minds for a while now. The wizards thought they had it bad being hunted down by the Nekross? Try being a starving race.

Lexi absent-mindedly moved out through the trees, Varg following her silently. They were both lost in their separate musings.

That was the first time Lexi felt the prickle of apprehension at the back of her neck. She wasn't sure why, but something wasn't right. Wasn't right at all.

"Something's wrong," Varg murmured over her shoulder, and Lexi nodded.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"What is this place?" Varg inquired, looking around.

"I believe it is an expanse of grassland that humans classify as a park," Lexi explained. "But there are normally humans frequenting these areas. Where are they?"

"It seems a very exposed place to perform magic," Varg pondered. "Don't the wizards prefer to do their magic in their chambers and caves, hidden away from us? And it was such a powerful reading, too." His tentacles curled at the prospect of such powerful magic that the scanners had recorded up on the Zarantulus.

"Unless... they wanted for us to notice them," Lexi said slowly.

"But why -" Varg began.

Suddenly, both aliens heard the unmistakable sound of a human shout from the bushes just fifty metres away, just as humans began to rush out of the undergrowth, holding unfamiliar weapons angled at them. They had been tricked.

Lexi's eyes widened, and fear came into her blue eyes for the first time as an eerily familiar figure moved out of the bushes, smiling coldly. "You!"

"Me," Adams agreed.

Varg was just getting out his ray gun to angle at their human enemies. "Human scum," he hissed venomously.

"What do you want?" Lexi asked frantically, knowing they were a real threat to the Nekross. She had been captured by them before, and she had no wish to be again. Not now they knew they were aliens.

Adams smiled wider and didn't answer. "Take them," was his order to the guards assembled around him.

"Varg, get the Zarantulus to beam us up!" Lexi yelled in her brother's ear. Varg was surprised to see the fear in her eyes and the urgency in her voice, but did as she said.

Just then, one of the guards fired.

The stun pulse hit Lexi directly in the chest, and her legs buckled immediately. She was unconscious before she hit Varg's arms.

"What have you done to my sister?" Varg hissed furiously.

"It won't hurt her," Adams assured him. "And it won't hurt you."

The second stun pulse hit Varg from behind and he crumpled on the ground, an unforgiving look in his eyes as he fought to stay conscious, but failed.

Adams resisted the urge to jump up and down in excitement. They had the Nekross. "Move out," he ordered gruffly, and his men began to lift the two aliens into the back of the van.

He wouldn't waste this opportunity as Gaunt had, asking for jewels and world domination. He had much more scientific ideas on his mind - and now they were finally able to research in earnest.

Suddenly, there was a shout, and Adams spun around to see another of the aliens. _Another one?_ This one was smaller and he had red skin instead of the golden-brown shade of the other two. His eyes were widened as he took in the scene, and saw the unconscious forms of Varg and Lexi.

"Take him too!" Adams ordered, and the third Nekross didn't even have time to run before a stun pulse hit him in each shoulder. He would be out for longer having been hit by two, but that didn't matter. They had three aliens in their grasp. This was better than Adams could have ever expected.

It was time to make history.

 _A/N) This is why I've always supported the Nekross just a little bit, just because they're hunting down wizards because they have to in order not to starve, not just for fun. Hope you liked this chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

Lexi woke up and immediately wished she hadn't.

Her head was swimming uncontrollably and there was a vicious pounding going on in her forehead that refused to alleviate.

It took a few moments to realise where she must be.

She had been captured. By Adams. Who had hit her with some kind of advanced stun pulse to knock her out and bring her here.

Wherever 'here' was.

Lexi heard a grunt beside her and instantly realised that she wasn't alone. She managed to crane her head sideways and saw an unconscious Varg, lying in the same position she was in, strapped down by the wrists, ankles and over his chest. When she tried to move her body slightly she knew she had been given the same treatment, although her head pounded too much for her to look down to see.

The same treatment as before, almost a year ago now. Except last time it had been Tom lying next to her, not her brother, and Tom was still under the misguided illusion that she was the human Lucy.

And on the other side of her was unmistakably Jathro.

Lexi had to stifle a groan. As if it wasn't bad enough being in this situation itself, with just she and Varg, who she at least knew could look after himself, now they had Jathro as well, who had limited training and would no doubt be a hindrance to their escape.

 _Who says you're going to escape this time, Lexi?_ a nasty little voice hissed in the back of her head. _The last time you only managed to escape because you had a wizard with you._

She was not thinking about Tom. Not now.

Could he have had anything to do with this situation? Surely not. Lexi didn't think that he'd actually go this far, not intentionally.

Though the site where they had beamed down to had been suspiciously close to where Tom Clarke lived...

Next to her, Varg moaned in his sleep, trying to move his arms and failing, feeling tough straps against his armour instead. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking to clear the bleariness, making silent sense of his surroundings. Then he realised where they were and the first word out of his mouth was: "Lexi!"

"Brother, I'm here," assured Lexi from next to him, wishing she could reach out to touch him. "Are you okay?"

"My head," Varg said groggily, pain in his voice. "It pounds."

"Then you have the same side effects as I," noticed Lexi. "I assume they are effects from the stun pulses they hit us with."

"Is it just us?" Varg wanted to know, shaking his head to wake up a little.

Lexi sighed. "No. You can't see him from there, but Jathro's this side of me."

"Of course he is," sighed Varg. "He couldn't have the sense to stay away just a minute more. Now we have no one to raise the alarm of our capture."

"He's still unconscious," noted Lexi in concern. Even though they treated the technicians with general strictness, she did have a soft spot for this particular technician.

"Oh yes, we were forced to hit him with two stun pulses, so he'll be out for a little longer," A voice informed them ominously from the side of the room. "No matter. I'll find out all about him when he wakes up."

Adams walked into the room, looking at his prisoners with greedy eyes. "So two of us are awake. Welcome, aliens, to my humble research facility. Now home to a research experiment that will make us rich - and famous. With your help, of course."

"Let him go," Lexi told their captor, referring to Jathro. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Protecting your kind?" Adams mused. "Interesting. For all you seem a hostile, aloof species, you seem very keen to protect your own."

"We're a dying race," Varg said venomously. "We have to care about each and every Nekross, or they die and our population gets a little smaller. Unlike your human scum, we actually value every member of our planet."

"Interesting." Adams scribbled down a quick note on his clipboard.

"What do you want from us?" Lexi asked defiantly.

"We want to study you," was the immediate answer. "When we captured you before, my idiot boss didn't see what an excellent scientific opportunity we had right under our fingertips. She preferred to focus on trivial matters like jewels and crowns and world domination. But we are not so blind."

"Let us go," Varg insisted feebly, knowing his attempt was in vain. Adams simply smiled, making a hand gesture in the air to outside the room.

A technician came in and passed Adams an innocuous white object, which he looked over then sent the technician away with a nod. Varg suddenly noticed that Lexi had gone very pale.

"Oh yes, you remember this, don't you, Lexi?" Adams said with a smile, noticing her discomfort and holding up the object. Lexi flinched noticeably, it was obvious she remembered it only too well.

"Our deep particle scanner," Adams explained for the benefit of the other two Nekross, despite Jathro still being asleep. "Since Lexi here deleted most of the first scan we did on her, we will be forced to do it again."

Varg saw fear in his sister's eyes for the second time, and knew this scan wasn't just any harmless scan, or Lexi wouldn't look so scared.

"But the question is - who shall we perform the scan on?" Adams wondered aloud, with a slow smile as he looked at his three prisoners. Lexi glared defiantly at him, though she was still very aware of the scanner held loosely in his hand.

"How about - this one?" Adams said slowly, coming over to the unconscious Jathro.

"No," said Lexi immediately. She flashed a look at Varg, who was in agreement. Whatever happened to them, they couldn't involve the innocent technician.

"No?" repeated Adams enquiringly.

"No," agreed Varg. "Anyone who lays a finger on our kind will be obliterated."

"Big talk from the alien tied to the wall," commented Adams. But to Lexi's relief, he moved away from Jathro, standing in between Lexi and Varg. "But no, you're right. It's no fun if they're unconscious. But which of you two should I do it on? I already have parts of the female scan, so - let's start with the male." And he lifted the device up to Varg's chest.

Varg felt the sensation of thousands of tiny needles penetrating his skin, and couldn't hold back a pained intake of breath as the laser travelled through him, a burning feeling that seemed to penetrate every cell in his body, causing him to shudder uncontrollably in his armour.

"No!" Lexi shouted. "Stop, you're hurting him!" Suddenly, as she made this exclamation, she remembered who had said that very same statement a year ago, when she was going through the same process - Tom Clarke.

Adams raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, so would you rather I'd do it to you instead?" And he moved the focus of the laser beam to over her body once more.

Lexi felt the all-too-familiar sensation of the scan raking through her body, and once again fought to contain her cries of pain, just as she had done when she was trapped with Tom.

 _She was not thinking about Tom Clarke._

How were they going to get out of this?

 _A/N) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Things aren't looking up for the Nekross now..._

 _Just an update to say I'm going on holiday today, so I won't be able to post any updates to my stories. Bye!_


	6. Chapter 6

"You lied to us when we first met you in your alien form," Adams reminded Lexi, pacing back and forth in front of them restlessly.

"I lie to a lot of people," Lexi replied calmly. "Especially those that I don't particularly trust."

"You told us that your form filter allowed you to 'breathe the air of this filthy world'," Adams quoted, ignoring her. "Of course, this was a lie, since you seem apparently able to breathe now, without the form filter aiding your respiratory systems."

"It was a necessary deception to stop you taking Nekross technology," Lexi explained coldly, staring at him slightly unnervingly, Varg thought.

"But I wonder..." Adams continued, sounding almost dreamy now. "If the air of this 'filthy world' is all that you can breathe, Lexi."

The first hints of apprehension came onto Lexi's face. "What do you mean?" she inquired softly, her voice showing no signs of her nervousness, but her eyes gave her emotions away.

"Well, you shall soon see," Adams told her with a smile that gave nothing away. "Since the scan didn't reveal a great deal about the breathing systems of you aliens, it is necessary to take a more - practical approach."

Varg was the first to realise what this meant. "You can't," he said, a tone of urgency beginning to creep into his voice. "You can't!"

Two guards seemed to materialize out of nowhere, coming over to Lexi and unlocking her cuffs, before grabbing both of her arms in an iron grip so she couldn't escape.

Adams leant in close to the struggling Lexi. Confusion was written clearly over her face; she knew something was about to happen because of her brother's reaction, but she didn't know what. "It's finally your turn again, Lexi. After all this time."

Lexi was standing alone in a glass room on the other side of the glass panel where Varg and Jathro were trapped, at around twenty metres away. Adams had left the prison area and was standing in between the two glass rooms, holding a control panel and looking excited.

Lexi sent a worried look towards Varg, who ached at her innocence. She didn't know what an respiratory test was conducted of, and there was no way of warning her now.

She would soon find out.

"Ready?" Adams inquired calmly.

"Well, no, since I don't know what you're about to do to me," reasoned Lexi.

Adams simply smiled, and typed in a command on the control panel.

Lexi suddenly realised a split second before it happened what Adams was doing, and her eyes widened in real fear. She was too late to hold a breath full of precious oxygen, however, before the vents opened in the ceiling, and the oxygen was slowly sucked from the room. The young alien girl choked on the suddenly poisonous air, her lungs fighting to use oxygen that it couldn't find in the room.

"Lexi!" shouted Varg, helpless as he was forced to watch his sister slowly suffocate. Nekross systems were more powerful than human systems, so they could theoretically breathe in many situations, but theory hadn't accounted for this kind of test.

Luckily, Adams pressed another button, allowing the oxygen to flow back into the room so that Lexi was suddenly able to breathe again. "Right -" Adams said slowly, making notes on his clipboard as Lexi breathed the precious air deeply that she had just previously taken for granted. "Can't - breathe - without oxygen supply. Further - tests - evidently required."

"Further tests?" growled Varg furiously. "You've already managed to nearly suffocate her once! Isn't that enough?"

"It is never enough," Adams told him, sounding slightly fanatic now.

This time Lexi was more prepared and managed to take a breath of air before the vents opened and another gas began to furl in through the ceiling. Carbon dioxide, Varg realised, his wrist gauntlet reading the air automatically, though fairly uselessly.

She managed to hold her breath for a good eleven seconds before she was forced to take a breath; Adams watched her in amusement. Lexi's eyes widened as she tasted the bitter carbon dioxide tang in the air, and shook her head frantically. Adams simply gave her a cheerful thumbs-up, pausing casually as Lexi desperately tried to breathe, before finally pressing the button once more.

This time, when the oxygen was let back into the room, Lexi dropped weakly to her knees, breathing heavily.

"How about pure hydrogen this time?" Adams asked curiously, giving her no time for the recovery that he had previously allowed her, and pressed a button before Varg could argue.

"She can't breathe!" Varg yelled at the top of his voice, furious as he watched his sister choke once again on the poisonous air in the chamber. "That's why we have helmets for poisonous atmospheres!"

Adams nodded to him, and pressed the oxygen button once more. "That's all I need to know. No lies and no evading questions, and she gets the air back."

Much more of that, and it would kill her.

Luckily, the next one he picked was a compound of oxygen and methane, which Lexi could just about utilize the oxygen from. If she breathed very shallowly, she could just about breathe in the gas, her damaged lungs fighting to use the limited oxygen in the air.

Adams smiled brightly, pressing the oxygen button again and watching Lexi breathe heavily, her every shuddering breath evidently painful. "Now then. How about nitrous oxide?"


	7. Chapter 7

Lexi collapsed back in her bonds as the guards finished clicking them back into place, her head slumping weakly back against the head rest, eyes closed. Varg shot a furious look at Adams, who smiled innocently, then left the room, probably to record the data.

"Are you okay, Lexi?" her brother asked in uncharacteristic concern.

Lexi breathed the oxygen deeply and slowly felt the dizziness pass. She felt understandably lightheaded after that pleasant experience; her head was swimming uncontrollably.

"Lexi? Are you functioning properly?" insisted her brother.

Oh, shut up, Lexi wanted to tell him. She had developed a pounding headache since he had spoken, and every word seemed oddly magnified in her brain, every syllable resounding around her eardrums. But she forced her heavy eyelids open, and said - rather calmly under the circumstances, she thought - "I'm fine, brother! If being nearly choked to death multiple times counts as fine!"

Varg got the message and shut up.

Wisely, Jathro also chose this moment to wake up.

"Er, my exquisite excellencies?" both siblings heard from near them, and poor blearily blinking Jathro was suddenly faced with two very annoyed stares. Any words he had been about to say suddenly died in his mouth. "Um."

Varg had had a very long day so far, and he was not in any mood to chat. Unfortunately, Jathro didn't know that, so he got the full attack of Varg's pent-up frustration. "Oh, so you're finally awake, are you? After being stupid enough to walk straight into their trap! Now we have no one to raise the alarm for us, and the Zarantulus won't know where we've gone. We're trapped here!"

"...I - I didn't know?" offered Jathro weakly, apparently wise enough not to point out that they, after all, had walked straight into the trap too.

Lexi sighed. "I know, technician. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this."

"Hmph," snorted Varg, turning away from Jathro as much as was possible in the limit of his bonds. Jathro sagged miserably, testing his own restraints and finding no relinquishing in the strength of them, before falling still.

"So," Lexi said finally, after a few minutes of frustrated angry silence in their cell. "What do we do?"

"Well I'm guessing that they're not going to just let us go after they've performed their feeble human experiments," Varg commented gruffly.

Lexi raised an eyebrow. "That was feeble, huh?"

Varg ignored her. "And given that you managed to escape twice last time, sister -"

"With the help of Tom Clarke," Lexi added, without quite knowing why she was making this correction.

Varg gave her an odd look. "Irrelevant. Anyway, I'm assuming also that they won't let us out of our bonds, as we are perfectly capable of engineering a solution to escape."

"Somehow I don't think that will be so simplistic this time, your Excellencies," Jathro piped up, gesturing to a corner with an incline of his head. Lexi saw that he was right. She had been able to tamper with the camera and set it onto a simple reverse feedback loop last time, but this time - all the cameras were on the outside of their glass prison. And there were a lot of cameras. All pointing at them.

"Oh," Varg said shortly, evidently having made the same connection.

"That pretty much sums it up, yes," agreed Lexi with a sigh, staring hard at one such camera as if it was its personal fault. "They apparently want to watch our every move."

Although Varg's grim predictions had been right on most accounts, there was one thing that he hadn't been quite right about. It seemed that Adams was willing to let them out of their bonds, as demonstrated when two guards came into their cell, ignoring the death stares from a certain prince and princess, and coming over to the far side of the room where they unlocked first Jathro's cuffs, then Lexi's.

"Play nicely," came the familiar voice from a hidden microphone somewhere in the cell, as the guards made for the door. Lexi didn't have time to even try and overpower them before the glass had closed back around them again.

Varg looked affronted. "What about me?" he demanded.

The voice of Adams paused for a moment, before pretending to remember something. "Oh yes, and I almost forgot. We'll keep him in his restraints, just because I can see he'll be trouble. I can't have any damage in my new cells, can I? And it may stop you two interfering too much."

Varg gave a furious growl from where he was still immobilized in his bonds. "Untie me now! Human scum!"

Lexi sighed. This wasn't going to improve her brother's mood in the slightest.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two days. None of them had said anything, but Tom could feel the tension and the expectancy in the household. Moon was even more excitable than usual, apparently already convinced that 'the Great Mistress had banished the unworld ones with her powerful magic'. They didn't bother correcting him that they had had a little help from 'scientrickery', and that really they weren't responsible. Or at least, that's what Tom kept telling himself.

When yet another day had gone by without Tom being kidnapped, chased around the park or having to frantically plan with Benny for another Nekross attack, Ursula was convinced.

"They've gone!"

Tom looked sceptical as he sat down at the kitchen table, wearing a dirty football kit and scuffed boots. "It's only been a couple of days, Gran. And Adams hasn't called us back."

"He said he wouldn't," reminded Ursula. "He said we'd never hear from him again if they got what they wanted. And we haven't had them come after us for days!"

"Two days," repeated Tom. "It's hardly proof."

"I hope your gran's right, Tom," Michael said at the counter, pouring out hot water into cups. "If they are gone, it means wizardkind is safe. And I don't need to worry about you going out with Benny or your friends any time."

"I know," said Tom with a small smile, trying to be as enthusiastic as his family was. He didn't know why he was contradicting them like this, he, after all, wanted it as much as they did. Maybe it was because he couldn't quite imagine that the Nekross had just gone like that. Or maybe it was because he didn't want to get their hopes up quite so soon, in case it wasn't true.

Or maybe it was because he couldn't get Lexi's eyes out of his head, looking almost reproachfully at him.

If they had been captured - if Adams' plan had worked - what were they doing to her?

Ursula took both of Tom's shoulders in her hands, looking deep into his eyes. "They're gone, Thomas," she said gently. "They can't hurt us again."

But what if we've hurt them? Tom wanted to argue. They didn't know what Adams could be doing to the Nekross, even if they deserved it for all the pain they had put countless wizards through. But he couldn't say that to his family, who looked so hopeful, sitting around the kitchen table. They could be safe. That was what mattered.

So he met his gran's eyes and smiled, a real smile this time, despite the uncertainty he still struggled to push away. "I know, Gran. We're safe now."

* * *

There was no way of telling how long it had been. Lexi suspected it had been almost two days, but it was hard to tell in the featureless glass box that formed their prison, surrounded by cameras that recorded their every move. Lexi had taken to pacing the cell, although she knew it would do no good. They had all slept since yesterday; Varg had brashly declared that he would never fall asleep in the lair of their enemies, before promptly falling asleep half an hour later, sagging in his tight bonds, still tilted half upright. Lexi had rolled her eyes, and offered her shoulder to an exhausted-looking Jathro, who had taken it gratefully. It was a while since she was able to join them in their forced slumber.

And now they were all awake again, Jathro trying feebly to work on Varg's cuffs, though that was easier said than done with an annoyed Varg shouting at him to hurry up every five seconds. The technician was intelligent, but he hadn't studied human technology before, and this was all new to him. He was trying his best, as Lexi had to remind Varg more than once.

It didn't help that they were all still so hungry. The imminent threat of their capture had helped them ignore the ache in their stomachs, but now they were just sitting here, waiting, it was harder than ever to ignore, and Lexi felt the now-familiar pains of hunger cramps twisting her insides, like a steel glove tightening around her chest and twisting hard. It was worse for Jathro, of course; as an inferior technician he received even less magic allowance than they did, and right now that wasn't doing him any good at all. Varg was stoically ignoring his own hunger, his clenched fists the only sign that he was trying hard not to cry out, but Jathro had no such skill in mastering his emotions. Although he tried to stay quiet - complaining would not help them now - every so often Lexi would hear a quiet yelp from the technician which revealed his own hunger pangs.

They were captured and slowly starving. Lexi sighed as she watched Varg growl and threaten the feebly trying technician for the fifth time. This was not a good day for the Nekross.

Finally, something interesting happened. After about two hours of them waking, a black screen unfurled itself from the ceiling, similarly to how it had done all that time ago. Adams' voice rung out over their heads, although they hadn't actually seen the man for a day or so. "Enjoy," was all he said.

"What is this human nonsense?" Varg asked venomously to the ceiling, apparently determined to insult everything and everyone today. Understandable, within the current circumstances, but not really very helpful.

"I believe it is a tele-vision," Lexi said, remembering her studies on it so long ago and almost smiling at the thought of how they had been back then. Happy. Not starving.

Varg obviously didn't share the same recollection as she did. "Oh," was all he said, and then, a moment later: "I want to shoot it."

His sister rolled her eyes. "You want to shoot everything, brother."

Mercifully, before Varg could reply, or possibly demand a ray gun, the screen flickered on, revealing what looked like a news screen. 'Breaking News', read the caption.

"What purpose does showing us this trivial human rubbish possess?" Varg inquired to the ceiling, who didn't answer.

Lexi realised what was scrolling across the screen. Human words.

Specific human words. Ones, that unfortunately, she recognised.

And an image of herself, Varg and Jathro, all apparently unconscious. They must have taken the image when they first captured them.

Varg was staring at the screen; even he knew this wasn't good. "What does it say, sister?" he asked. Lexi was the only one who had learnt to read Earth languages, and her expression showed that she was reading the words on the screen, trying to process their meaning, as the human woman spoke the same words on screen, although it was muted.

"Later on today, Gaunt Corporation has promised to show us - live - these aliens, revealing them to the word. No, the world. For now, this is the news that aliens have been discovered and captured, and are being studied by the scientific superpower, Gaunt Corporation. More news on this later on today," Lexi translated slowly, correcting herself at times as dread crept slowly into her tone.

"All the world news are showing this," Adams said, his voice excited. "We will be famous. Extremely rich and supremely famous. And your species will be revealed to all." There was a pause as he evidently assessed the effect of his ominous words on his prisoners. Jathro looked confused, while both siblings had identical expressions on their faces as they glared up at the ceiling where the microphone was concealed. Finally, Adams gave up on the metaphorical staring contest and coughed politely. "I'll be back soon. You'll need to be - prepared for your world premiere, after all. Enjoy." And the microphone switched off with an almost imperceptible click.

Lexi was white with shock, finally giving up on her glare at the ceiling. "The humans know," she said weakly, leaning against a glass wall.

Varg growled in his restraints, batting Jathro away. "Pah! What does it matter? They are our cattle, remember, sister? Primitive Earth species, with no magic and no threat to us. So what if they are aware of our existence?"

"They have us as their prisoners!" cut in Lexi angrily. "There is no use denying it, brother! They have already proved they want to study us, like they would animals, and they obviously seek to be rich from their 'discovery' of us. If they show us on their screens, our home is made unsafe. Our species." Lexi dropped her head in defeat. "We will be responsible."

Jathro, who had been silent for yet another long while, surprised the princess by laying a hand on her shoulder. Normally if she had been on her home ship, with her usual status, she would have knocked his hand away and reported him for disrespect, but this was a different circumstance. Instead she flashed him a weak smile and left his hand resting on her shoulder.

Varg snorted derisively, but there was comprehension in his eyes. Her brother was no fool, much as he may act like one at times, and he knew that Lexi's warnings rung true. They couldn't let their existence be broadcast to an entire planet. Much less the final home of magic.

So now they just needed to escape.

Somehow.

 **Reviews make me very happy :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Michael was only half watching the screen of the television, idly watching the news as Ursula bustled around the kitchen, chatting to Tom. It was late afternoon. Nothing seemed to be happening out of the ordinary.

Then suddenly the screen changed to a eeriely familiar image.

"Look! Look, Tom, look!" Michael alerted them at once, surprised.

Both wizards leapt to the screen, instantly recognising the three forms on the news picture. The images were slightly grainy, but the unconscious figures of Lexi, Varg and Jathro were unmistakable.

"Is that -?" Ursula wondered aloud, her voice shocked and soft.

"Uh huh," replied a dumbfounded Michael.

"On the -?"

"On the news, yeah," he confirmed. "On the national news."

"Guess that answers our questions," Tom murmured, unable to tear his eyes from the screen. Lexi's eyes were closed and her brow furrowed in her state of unconsciousness, but she still managed to look accusing even in sleep.

Ursula couldn't help a slight smile. "It worked. It got all three of them, and they can't hunt us again, not without their royals."

"But this is wrong!" Tom realised. "Adams said he would keep it secret! This is on the national news."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "Well I wouldn't exactly call that secret..."

"Later on today, Gaunt Corporation has promised to show us - live - these aliens, revealing them to the world. For now, this is the news that aliens have been discovered and captured, and are being studied by the scientific superpower, Gaunt Corporation. More news on this later on today." Tom read slowly, horror building in every word as the text scrolled across the screen. Even the newsreader sounded disbelieving, as probably did the rest of the country. Was it a trick? Only the Clarkes knew for sure that it wasn't.

It couldn't be.

"They're revealing them to the world?!" Ursula wondered in simultaneous bemusement and horror.

"We have to save them," Tom said instantly, no doubt in his tone.

Ursula looked unsure. "Thomas..."

"We have to save them," repeated Tom insistently. "We have to."

"But they're our enemy. They never failed to hunt us, and try to eat our kind. What more do they deserve?" Ursula pointed out with a frown.

"If aliens are revealed to the world, what do you think will be next?" Tom asked urgently. "Magic! Also -" his tone softened. "I've been in the position they're in before. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I realise that now. We _have_ to save them. Please, Gran."

Indecision danced in the older wizard's eyes for a further moment, then Ursula straightened up, grabbing her staff from where it rested against the sink. "Okay. Let's go and save the Nekross," she said in determination, only a slight waver in her voice.

Tom hugged her quickly, gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you, Gran," he murmured in her ear.

"Don't go thanking anyone yet," Michael warned. "We still have the hard bit to do - actually rescuing them in the first place."

Tom was already grabbing his coat, gulping down the last dregs of cocoa, moving rapidly around the kitchen. "We'll figure something out on the way!" he said urgently. "Let's just go, please! We don't have much time until Adams puts the Nekross on national tv, and then where will we be?"

"In a bad place," said Michael wisely.

Tom pulled his coat over both arms and turned to look at his family impatiently. "Let's go let's go let's go!"

"Of course Thomas," Ursula agreed finally, following the urgent boy out of the kitchen, followed closely be Michael. She wasn't fully happy with their decision, but Tom was right. They couldn't let this happen. For both the Nekross' and their sakes.

* * *

Adams had disappeared from the scene for now, much as Lexi shouted at the ceiling for him to come back, to negotiate.

Jathro was sitting down, trying to curl his hunger-racked body into a tighter ball against the glass wall. Lexi ached for him; he had had even less sustenance than they did before they ran out, and now he was suffering first. _Oh Jathro, I would give you magic if I could._

Even Varg had stopped trying to get the technician to try and get him out of his bonds; even he could see that the technician was in no state to be working. Instead he complained loudly, until even Lexi tuned him out, seeing that he wasn't going to be of much use. Several cameras followed her progress around the room as she paced the perimeter, wishing ever more for the comforting light blue glow of her ship. She had hated it at first, but now she loved it; it had become home over the last ten years.

They had a couple of hours to escape, before Adams followed up on his plan and they betrayed their species forever.

Lexi couldn't let that happen.

At any cost.

* * *

It was a simple task to find Adams' base, mainly because they had been there before, over a year ago now. Tom saw the Gaunt logo on the wall of the innocuous white building as Michael pulled up beside it in the car. It made him shiver, thinking about his captured time, feeling so helpless under Gaunt's control and so alone.

 _Though of course you weren't alone_ , Lexi's voice reminded him matter-of-factly.

 _Yeah, whatever Lexi_ , Tom argued. _I already feel guilty enough that I left you there. Don't rub it in._

"Thomas? Are you ready?" Ursula asked.

Tom nodded. "Yeah. Let's save the Nekross."

"A sentence that I never saw coming together," mused Michael, as they left the car on the pavement and crept towards the doors where they had entered last time. Everything looked eerily familiar, and Tom was nervous as they made a really subtle entrance by just walking in through the back door.

Luckily there didn't seem to be anyone in sight inside the building. Tom looked down the area that they stood in. The corridors were white, and all the doors leading off it looked the same. "Do you know where they might have been kept?" Michael wondered aloud.

"No," apologized the young wizard. "I can't remember my way around this place that well."

"We need to get to some security cameras or something," Michael planned. "That'll tell us where they are."

Tom suddenly heard voices, and Michael quickly directed their family to hide behind the corner, as Adams walked along the corridor, flanked by a couple of guards.

"I know a faster way to them," Tom murmured, the beginnings of a plan forming in his head.

"Tom? That's not a good idea," Michael pointed out once Tom had explained his idea quickly, his voice lowered for fear of attracting unwanted attention.

"It's not a good idea - but it'll get me closer," Tom reasoned. "Right now we don't even know where the Nekross are being held."

"He has a point," Ursula muttered. "I don't like it, but he does have a point."

"So if I let myself get captured, demand to rescue the Nekross. Hopefully they'll take me to them so they can gloat," Tom hoped. "You follow us, find out where the cell is, then you can perform spells from the outside and me from the inside. Right?"

"This is such an awful rescue plan," Michael sighed reluctantly, even though he knew it was probably their best chance. "Letting Tom get captured so we have to rescue him as well."

Tom winked, just before he stepped out into full view of the now-stationary Adams, who was talking into his radio. "I specialise in stupid."

Then he stepped out into the corridor, and six eyes widened in surprise.

* * *

"We have to get out of here," Varg commented for about the fourth time.

Lexi turned and flashed him a look, as she had done the previous three times already. "Yes, I _know_ that. But right now there doesn't seem to be any way to achieve that."

Her brother looked grumpy in his tight bonds, and Lexi did feel pity for him. It wasn't fair that he had been left in his uncomfortable restraints: tight straps holding his chest, wrists and ankles down. "Where is Adams?" he wondered aloud.

"Probably preparing for his world premiere," Lexi muttered bitterly, the scraping sensation of hunger in her stomach doing nothing to vastly improve her mood. "Are you okay, Jathro?"

"I - I am f fine," lied Jathro. "My ex Exquisite Excellencies..." His grimace proved otherwise, and Lexi immediately went to crouch next to him, although she knew it was a breach of protocol. Nekross royals didn't converse with technicians, and much less form bonds with them. But Varg didn't argue. These were, after all, extenuating circumstances.

"Don't lie to me, Jathro," Lexi told him sternly, laying a hand on his shoulder. She got a slight flinch, but Jathro managed a weak smile, before doubling over again with another pained hiss. The hunger was getting worse. In her body as well as his, though she was managing to control it better.

Though how long would they be kept here?

How long would it take to starve?

"We have to get out of here," it was Lexi's turn to say urgently, dimly aware that she was echoing her brother's words from just previously.

Varg raised his eyes to the ceiling (not that he had much choice from his current position anyway). " _Thank_ you."

"Oh, I'm not sure you'll be getting out here just yet," suddenly commented a voice from overhead. Smug. Adams. Lexi glared at where she imagined Adams looking at them, though really it was hard to tell with the multiple cameras angled at them outside the cell. "In fact, I've brought you a visitor!"

 _A visitor?_

Lexi's and Varg's eyes suddenly widened in unison as they realised who was being shoved by two guards into their cell. Lexi got up swiftly from Jathro's side, despite the raw pain in the pits of her stomach that seemed to gnaw away inside.

"Your attempted rescuer," Adams informed them from up above. "And also your condemner, in case you're interested."

Lexi's eyes were still wide. This, she had not expected. "Tom Clarke?!"

The young wizard grinned sheepishly, rubbing his arms as the guards let go and locked the glass cell after them, leaving him trapped inside with the three Nekross prisoners. "Hey...?"


	10. Chapter 10

Varg scrambled for a ray gun that wasn't at his holster, although both arms were still trapped by his sides. "Grarggh! I will obliterate you, halfling!" he roared, struggling in his bonds like a slippery eel.

Tom flinched a little, but recovered, raising his eyebrows. "I can see why they kept you restrained and not the other two."

"Oh I don't know, _wizard_ , I'm quite close to obliterating you myself," growled Lexi.

Tom raised his palms in a calming gesture, looking nervous. "Hey, Lexi, calm down. I came to save you, right? I admit, I was wrong to ever think that Adams could be peaceful. I was wrong to ever wonder what it would be like to be free, not to be hunted by you. I was wrong to submit you to - this."

"Yeah. You were wrong," said Lexi shortly, looking straight at him, her expression furious. "And if I had my gun -" She left the thinly veiled threat hanging ominously in the air between them, the tension audible in the room.

"Hey, hey -" Tom said quickly. "My gran and my dad are here. Look!" And he pointed through the glass to where Ursula and Michael crouched behind a desk fifty metres away from their cell. Ursula gave an encouraging little wave and Michael smiled nervously, his eyes focused on the three furious looking aliens around his son. "We're your rescue team. See?"

"Oh great, more treacherous wizards," Varg hissed.

"Not this time. We're here to help you," promised Tom. "Please listen to me. I regretted doing this as soon as we had done it."

"But yet you still did it," Lexi said, her voice suddenly soft. "You still tricked us, and let us be captured by them again. By you, Tom Clarke. I would have thought it would be anyone but you. You know what it was like. You know what we both went through. And yet you still let us be captured." Her voice rose, anger seeping into it like viscous syrup. "You knew what pain they would put us through, and yet you still did it!"

"And I regretted it straight afterwards," promised Tom. "I made a mistake. I'm sorry."

Jathro let out yet another muffled yelp of pain, which Lexi had come to sympathetically ignore over the last day or so, but Tom noticed it straight away.

"Something's wrong," Tom said slowly, trying to meet Jathro's lowered gaze, the technician's lips held in a thin, tight line as he stared into space.

"Oh, something besides us being locked in a glass cage with cameras watching our every move, so we can be experimented on and shown to the world like animals?!" Lexi spat furiously.

"No, something else," Tom insisted.

"Oh, you think?" the Nekross princess asked sarcastically, trying to hide another jolt of pain as hunger pangs shot through her body like arrows from a Pedarian Forest nymph's bow. Vicious little critters, they were. Next to her, Jathro yelped again, as the pangs evidently got more painful. Lexi had to resist the urge to move to him, to crouch down beside her friend and try and help his pain.

"You're hurt?" Tom wondered aloud.

"Oh, I didn't know you cared, _wizard_ ," Lexi muttered venomously, echoing the words she had spoken so long ago in this situation.

"You _are_ hurt!" Tom realised, flashing a look at Jathro, now curled up in a seated position against the glass wall. "What have they done to you?"

It was Varg who finally answered the question. "They haven't done anything to us. Well, apart from scanning us again, and testing my sister for what types of gas she could breathe." At this, Tom's eyes widened, and he looked askance at Lexi, who was now resolutely staring at the floor. "We're starving," Varg continued matter-of-factly, openly meeting his enemy's eyes confrontationally. "We haven't eaten for weeks. We haven't hunted for weeks, and now we're starving to death. I suppose your kind is happy now."

Tom's expression was one of shock. "I - I didn't know."

"Well you do now," Lexi told the floor harshly.

"I would have -" Tom started, before faltering. What exactly would he have done? His loyalty was to his family and his kind, not his enemy. Though sometimes Lexi didn't feel like his enemy. Letting them starve must be against the wizarding code, right?

Right?

"Well I came to rescue you," Tom told them after a moment, trying to say it brightly, although he was still trying to meet Lexi's eyes to no avail. The alien princess was staring sullenly at the cameras outside their cell, pretending to be examining them like she had already done several times before.

"Some rescue attempt," muttered the princess. She was trying not to sulk - sulking never helped anyone escape, after all - but Tom was infuriating at the best of times, never mind when she was in a foul mood to begin with.

"Is - is getting yourself locked in a cell the way to rescue someone now?" wondered Jathro weakly from his corner, at an attempt at humour.

"Yes. So, what's your plan, then, wizard?" asked Lexi, refusing to meet Tom's eyes. She had no choice but to work with him for now. The future of their species depended on it, after all.

"Oh, we'll figure it out. We're intelligent beings, after all. Well - most of us are, anyway," the young wizard reasoned, with a doubtful glance at the still-struggling Varg, who was threatening his restraints under his breath to no apparent avail.

"So you have a plan?" asked Lexi, trying to stay angry and stern, though it was difficult not to crack a slight smile at the offended look on her brother's face as he realised who Tom had been referring to.

Tom faltered. "Well, nearly. I'm still working on the finer points..."

Lexi sighed.


	11. Chapter 11

"So that should work, right?" Tom asked hopefully for the fourth or fifth time, looking apprehensive.

"Yes," Lexi answered shortly for the fourth or fifth time. Tom was standing in the middle of the cell, trying to hide as much of Varg and Lexi with his body as he could from the cameras so there was less chance of their progress being recorded. Since Jathro evidently wasn't in any condition to work, Lexi had taken over the task of trying to free Varg from his restraints. It was slow, difficult work, and Lexi didn't recognise much of the human technology used, but she had already managed to untether one of Varg's ankles. Just the rest of his body to go.

When Tom flashed a look back at his family, Ursula gave him yet another encouraging smile from where she was crouched behind a desk. They had had to hide whenever a team of scientists or security walked past, but mercifully they hadn't been discovered. "Are you nearly ready?" she mouthed.

"Nearly," Tom mouthed back. "We can't escape until we free Varg. But our plan's ready."

"My plan," Lexi corrected absent-mindedly from next to him, apparently able to lip read perfectly. Tom felt a glimmer of a smile automatically come to his face as he remembered their debate from so long ago now: how every plan becomes the Nekross' plan. Peeking a look at the stoic royal's face, he could see her fighting a smile as well. They were enemies now, but sometimes it really didn't feel like that.

"You really will steal anything?" he found himself remembering, and only when Lexi looked up and met his eyes again for the first time, he realised he had said it aloud.

"Oh yes," Lexi agreed, that slight smile resting on her face now. She may still have been furious with him, but at least they were on smiling terms now. Even possibly inside jokes.

Suddenly Jathro gave out another moan and sunk even lower to the floor, gasping for breath. Lexi immediately left her brother's side and was quick to slide her strong arms under Jathro, supporting his head with one hand. The technician let out a pained half-sob, sounding like he was begging, though he spoke in garbled Nekross language. From the look on both older Nekross' faces, it seemed they understood him perfectly.

"Jathro," Lexi said gently to him. "Stay strong." She started murmuring in another language to him which Tom could only assume was Nekross, in an attempt to try and calm the terrified technician.

"Please." Lexi was looking up at Tom from her awkwardly crouched position on the floor, tears suddenly in her eyes. She knew he was the only one who could help Jathro now. She may not like having to ask a wizard for help, but she had no choice any more. Not with Jathro like this. "I'm not sure how much longer he'll last."

It took only a split second to make a decision, and Tom immediately bent down beside the technician, eyes full of concern. "Of course," he replied, casting a nervous glance back at his family and briefly at Lexi, only inches away, before starting to whisper magical words under his breath, clicking his fingers in an instant.

Magic flowed straight from where it materialised from Tom's hand to Jathro's tentacles, furling in magical tendrils as it fought its way to his parted lips. The technician gasped, half in pain, half in wonder as he finally tasted the sweet silky taste of magic which they hadn't had for so long. Quickly, Lexi stood up and quickly hastened to the other side of the room, her eyes firmly closed in determination as she fought the temptation of such sweet fresh magic. It was evidently too much for her to handle at such close range. Tom realised how much both royals were fighting it, both determined to let the technician regain full strength. They were both starving too, evidently, but Varg, like his sister, was straining, his eyes closed and a pained expression on his face, so as not to automatically inhale the magic. How strong they both were. Why had he never noticed that before?

Tom couldn't help a gentle smile as he watched Jathro finish feeding, a blissful expression on his face as he inhaled the last precious dregs of magical residue. It was more magic than he had had in a long time, probably more than he had ever had at a single meal. As the last traces of magic dissipated into thin air, both Varg and Lexi relaxed visibly, not having to strain any more. Jathro collapsed onto his back, recovering.

Tom rounded on the royals, suddenly enthusiastic. "I could help you as well! Both of you! Jathro's not the only one who's starving; you need magic."

They considered it. Tom could see the indecision mirrored across both of their faces, as they desperately wanted to accept. But Lexi, after a moment, reluctantly shook her head. "No, wizard. Save your magic. We may need it yet to get out of here."

She was right, much as Tom hated to admit it.

Lexi crouched back down by Varg's side, trying not to let her hunger show on her features. It was even harder now that there had been magic in the room, though she was glad that she had done what she had done. For Jathro. It was her fault that he was in this mess, and now at least he wasn't going to starve.

Suddenly, Ursula was by the glass, looking around nervously to see if there was any guards coming. She was taking a risk, but Tom realised that she still had three spells. And Ursula was apparently willing to use them.

Lexi had realised this too. As Ursula gestured to Varg's restraints, Lexi nodded and stepped back from them. It would be a lot faster and a lot easier to release Varg now, although they'd have to move fast after that. Adams would notice - if he hadn't already noticed their actions - that Varg was free, and stop their escape attempt.

"What is the crone doing?" wondered Varg gruffly, trying to stretch his neck to see Ursula.

"That crone is about to get you out of those cuffs," Tom reminded him cuttingly.

"Brother, stay strong," Lexi repeated. "Fight the urge to consume the magic, at least if you want to get out."

Varg met her eyes with a cocky smile. "You think I don't know that? Please, sister, give me some credit, at least."

The slightly nervous Lexi rolled her eyes at her brother's typical arrogance, even now, and moved back, though she wasn't sure how ready she was to fight the urge to consume magic twice in as many minutes. Tom could see that, and moved slightly closer to her automatically.

Ursula counted to three under her breath, then crossed the fingers on her free hand and waved her staff, whispering magic into the air.

For an agonising moment, Tom was sure his gran's magic hadn't worked, and Ursula's disappointed expression evidently proved a similar assumption was running through her mind. Varg's eyes were closed and he was fighting the almost unbearable temptation of the magic furling around his torso. It was hard in any situation to resist magic at that close proximity, let alone when he was starving. But then the cuffs around Varg's ankles, wrists and middle gave a satisfying-sounding click and the Nekross prince was freed from his tight restraints.

Relief flashed across both Tom's and Lexi's faces, and Lexi turned to Ursula. "Thank you, wizard," she said sincerely, since she knew there was very little chance of ever getting Varg to thank anyone, let alone a wizard. Varg rubbed his wrists back into feeling and gave a grunt which Tom took to mean thanks.

"We're not out yet," Michael said, his voice muffled through the thick glass, as he checked for guards and joined Ursula by the window, throwing a dirty look towards one of the many cameras that followed his movement.

Lexi became all business again. "Yes. Okay, now we're all restored, we need to execute my - our plan." Tom smiled as the usually aloof princess threw him a secret, almost teasing glance at the acknowledgement of the shared plan. "This will take quick action. Wizard - that means you, crone - you need to block out the view of the cameras."

"The effect will only last for probably around thirty seconds, not much more, so we have to do it at the very last moment," Ursula told them. Tom looked at the many cameras, hoping his gran had enough magic to block them all out at the same time. It would have been good to block them out before, but they just didn't have the magic or the time. They'd just have to take the risk that Adams was heading here now to block off their escape.

"Tom Clarke, you'll cast the spell to open the glass door," Lexi instructed.

Tom gave a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

"And I'm fairly sure there's more than one layer to the glass," Jathro piped up suddenly. He was looking a lot healthier now, and his skin was flushed a brighter red than Lexi had ever seen it as he stood, fully restored to his usual self. Lexi didn't doubt his assertion, he had worked with many different Nekross technologies, and he was normally right about these things.

"Varg and I will hopefully be able to kick the second layer of glass down," Lexi repeated her stage of the plan.

"Wonder at our Nekross strength, wizards," Varg added slightly randomly.

Tom nodded, though his eyes were only on Lexi. "Let's hope this works," he said nervously. "I've got two spells left, and I need to keep one reserve just in case this doesn't work."

"It will work," Lexi said confidently, though inside she was swimming with nerves. "It has to."

"Ready?" Michael asked.

There was a chorus of affirmatives from the strangely assorted group. Tom couldn't help but marvel at the oddity of the situation: the Nekross and wizards working together to achieve a shared goal. He and Lexi had been allies before, of course, but he had never expected his gran and Varg to have such similar expressions on their faces at one time.

Tom faced the door, hand out ready to cast his spell. "Then let's escape this place."


	12. Chapter 12

"Three, two, one - now, Gran!" Tom ordered with a gesture to Ursula, who was poised ready outside the glass.

Ursula muttered a tiny prayer to whatever wizard ancestors were listening at that present moment, then spoke aloud, crashing her staff onto the tiled floor. "Jeradee kursha rah!"

Magic swirled from the tip of her staff and dissipated into the air. Ursula closed her eyes and concentrated, her fingers crossed behind her back. Suddenly, around the lens of each camera appeared a large pink squishy object that looked remarkably like -

"Is that a marshmallow?" Michael wondered aloud, voicing Tom's unspoken question.

Ursula shrugged with a tiny smile at Tom, who was looking askance at her. "What? It blocks the nasty things' view, doesn't it? It was the first thing I could think of!"

"Tom, your spell," Lexi reminded him quickly, looking tensely at the cameras. They didn't have much time before the marshmallow spell dissipated.

Tom was quick to click his fingers, focusing all his willpower on the glass door. It was harder to move than he remembered it being last time he had locked Stephanie Gaunt inside. He ignored it, dismissing it to higher security levels in the building. "Raash magala dah!"

One layer of the glass slid away from the door, disappearing into the rest of the wall. Tom tried to focus on opening another, to try and make their escape faster, but there was something firmly pushing him back, and just one spell wasn't enough to break through the mental blockade. He can't afford to use another spell on this, just in case -

But it would work. It had to.

Once the spell was finished, Tom nodded to Lexi, confirming he was done. Both Varg and Lexi quickly stepped forward, exchanging identical glances before they both threw strong kicks at the glass. Lexi spun, gaining momentum with her rotation and kicking the glass squarely in the centre of the door. Varg didn't bother with fancy spinning kicks, instead his boot impacted with the glass fast and hard, buckling the already weakened surface and sending arcing cracks across the translucent material. It only took one more kick from both prince and princess for these fractures to give way and Tom jumped back as fragments of glass fell to the ground around them.

What was revealed as the glass gave way was something none of them expected.

"Another pane of glass?" Tom noted. "Spectacular."

Lexi looked nervous as she looked around the room, at every moment expecting guards to rush in and stop their escape, or to hear the ominous voice of Adams ringing out on the loudspeakers overhead. Surely they've noticed their cameras have gone a suspicious pink colour? Or had seen a couple of extra people hovering outside the cell, helping to free Varg? There were so many factors that could go wrong with this plan at any moment. At any moment, they could be found out, and then it was all over.

She just wanted to go home so much.

"Well, we can kick this one down too," Varg said unusually optimistically.

Lexi stepped forward. Later she would curse herself for maybe having been a little too eager in her renewed desperation to escape. Her brother did rash irresponsible things. She was the sensible one. But maybe starvation was clouding her judgement, or maybe she just really wanted this plan to work. "Agreed, brother." And she turned her body almost imperceptibly, preparing for yet another spinning kick at the new pane of glass.

Jathro was the only one to realise what was wrong a split second before Lexi made contact with the glass. "No -!" he cried out - but it was too late.

The princess' foot only had to make the barest connection with the glass, before something crackled loudly, a bolt of white lightning suddenly arcing up her armoured leg and sinking into her chest plates out of sight. Lexi's cry was unexpected and pained as it rung out across the small cell.

Varg was the first to react. He raced forward, shoving Tom brusquely aside, and pulled the convulsing body of his sister away from the electrified door, cutting off the current. The princess collapsed into Varg's arms, shuddering violently. Her breathing was ragged and heavy and her eyes were closed.

Much more gently than Tom had expected, Varg lowered Lexi to the ground, alleviating the pressure on his own arms. His expression was both fearful and furious. "My sister! What have those vile primitive humans done to her?"

Tom had already joined Varg at Lexi's side. "It's an electric door," he confirmed somewhat unnecessarily. "I guess our exit wasn't so poorly defended after all. When Lexi touched it, the electricity transferred to her."

"That's sneaky," commented Michael, just audible from outside. "Having an electrified layer in a door. This guy doesn't miss much in terms of security."

Varg ignored him, but he suddenly looked a lot less ferocious. "Will she - will she be all right?"

"I don't know," Tom replied honestly. "Electrocution is pretty painful for us vile primitive humans, but it has to be a pretty big voltage for it to be fatal. But I don't know what it will do in a Nekross body, not exactly having much experience of being an alien myself."

Lexi was still shaking involuntarily, though she was apparently unconscious. Her eyelids were shut and her large clunky shoe was singed from where she had made contact with the electrified door. Tom took one of her gloved hands in his own, squeezing it in concern. Varg growled slightly under his breath, but made no motion to intervene. "Our superior Nekross bodies will overcome your kind's weak electricity poison!" he boasted. But he still didn't sound too sure.

"Excellency?" inquired a small voice. Jathro was standing a respectful distance from the crouched group, his head bowed, apparently feeling stronger after his magic boost just a few minutes ago. "I think I may be able to be of some assistance here."

For a long moment, Tom thought Varg was going to lash out at Jathro, but then the proud prince sagged slightly, casting a desperate look down at Lexi. "Do what you can , technician."

Jathro was swift to come to Lexi's side, immediately bending down and opening a panel in one of the princess' chest plates and expertly starting to rearrange wires inside the armour with nimble fingers. "Due to the density and the material used for the casing of our armour, the electricity is unable to diffuse from the armour. Therefore it is trapped inside; it has nowhere else to go other than around Lexi's system," Jathro explained as he worked.

"Can you diffuse the electricity?" Varg asked urgently.

If Jathro hadn't been a lower ranking, shy technician, Tom was sure he would have rolled his eyes at this point. "That is what I'm attempting to do."

To everyone's surprise, Varg actually shut up.

For about half a minute, Jathro worked silently, his fingers working fast on the tiny components inside the armour. Tom couldn't help but feel concerned for Lexi, she was still shaking slightly as the electricity coursed restlessly through her body. Varg clutched Lexi's limp hand, his eyes focused only on her. They must have looked an odd sight, one teenage boy and two aliens clad in royal blue armour hunched on the floor around a third alien.

"Now, I recommend you move back," Jathro advised finally, seeming satisfied with his alterations. "There's going to be a discharge of the trapped electricity when I let it escape the armour, and I really don't think you want to let it hit you too."

Reluctantly Varg dropped his younger sister's hand as if it pained him immensely, and moved back - about an inch.

"Um - I'd advise you move back a tiny bit further, please, excellency," Jathro ordered hesitantly.

Varg gave a heavy sigh and followed Tom to stand at the other side of the room. "Do it, Jathro," Varg implored gruffly. "Please."

Jathro gave a slow nod and calmly addressed the unconscious princess. "Excellency - Lexi, if you can hear me, this is going to hurt. But only for the briefest of moments, and much less than having it trapped in your system."

Lexi didn't reply, though no-one was really expecting an answer.

The technician took a final deep breath, before nervously leaning back as much as he was able to while remaining in a crouch by Lexi's side, and disconnecting the final two wires inside the panel.

A similar bolt of white electricity shot from Lexi's chest panel, narrowly missing Jathro's head, and dissipated into thin air. Lexi jolted suddenly, and a cry came out of her open mouth. Varg made as if to run back to her again, but Jathro stopped him quickly with a restraining hand in the air. "No! The rest of the electricity is just escaping her body. Give it a second or two, please."

It did indeed take a few moments, in which a tense silence was maintained in the cell, both Tom and Varg hovering nervously a safe distance away. Then, just as Varg was about to disregard Jathro's instructions and return like a magnet to his sister's side, Lexi took a huge, gasping breath and her eyes shot open. "I'm alive."

"You're alive," confirmed Jathro, relief perfectly evident as he allowed a smile to break out across his face.

Varg helped Lexi to her feet gruffly, trying to hide his concern. "Sister. Are you functional?"

Lexi had to smile at her brother's obvious, although abrupt care for her as she tested her legs, finding them only slightly shaky as she supported herself on Varg's arm. "I am fine, brother. Just a little dazed after that unexpected frying."

Tom gave a relieved thumbs-up to Michael and Ursula from outside. Ursula returned it with a worried smile, though she was perfectly aware that they weren't out of danger yet.

"Thank you, Technician Jathro," Lexi was saying sincerely.

Jathro bowed his head in slight embarrassment. "You saved me from starvation, Excellency. I was only returning the favour. Anyway, human electricity is very similar to small dosages of our Zanti Scale, and I've had to deal with cases with other technicians before."

"Did you know it would work?" inquired Tom.

Jathro shrugged. "No."

If Varg hadn't been so relieved to have his sister safe and sound, he probably would have admonished the technician for his nonchalance, but as it was he just laid a gloved hand on Jathro's shoulder, which meant as much gratitude as Varg was accustomed to giving. Jathro looked as pleased as you could imagine a Nekross looking.

"Hey, I don't want to break up the party," cut in Michael from outside. "But how are you going to get out now if the glass layer is electrified? You can't exactly break it now, and Tom doesn't know what it will do to him if he uses magic to try and move it. It's too risky."

"Maybe all of the electricity transferred to Lexi when she touched it?" Tom said hopefully.

"Who wants to test that rather optimistic theory?" Lexi asked sarcastically. No one looked particularly enthused to get electrocuted, understandably really.

"Okay, Plan B," Tom decided. He paused. "Did anyone actually make a Plan B?"

"Oh, I don't think you'll be needing a Plan B any time soon," came a familiar voice, as Adams appeared in the door of the cell, behind the electrified layer, immediately finding himself on the receiving end of several death stares. It was the first time they had actually seen him for over two days. Their captor smiled smugly as he noted the determined exhaustion on both Nekross royals' faces, and the anger on Tom's and his family's. "In fact, I don't think you'll be escaping at all - ever."


	13. Chapter 13

Adams gave a practiced laugh as he grinned, crocodile-like, through the glass at his prisoners. "I'm pleasantly surprised. Your escape attempt was very interesting, and I'm actually impressed by how far you got before our cameras picked you up and sent an alert to our systems."

"It could be something to do with large pink marshmallows," commented Ursula with one of her typical little giggles that seemed completely alien in this scenario. Varg rolled his eyes with a frown, not appreciating her unprofessionalism.

"Also, despite you being mortal enemies, from what you inform me, you appear to be getting on remarkably well now," their captor noted, slight confusion slipping onto his face. "I expected the aliens to have ripped you apart by now for your betrayal of them, Thomas Clarke."

"Maybe there's a lot you don't know about wizards and aliens," commented Tom, with only a brief guilty glance across at Lexi, who apparently didn't notice the cue - or was ignoring it, whichever one.

"There's a lot he does know as well," growled Varg, his antagonistic tone unmistakable. It was evident what he wished to do to change this particular fact.

"That's right. I do know everything about you," Adams warned them. "I have the advantage here. And despite your attempt at escape, I still have the upper hand."

"If you're so strong, why don't you come in here?" Tom dared him. Lexi shot a sideways look at him, immediately figuring out what his plan was and straightening up slightly, though her face remained expressionless, as ever.

Luckily, Adams didn't take much persuasion. The temptation to gloat had proved too much, and he obligingly opened the glass door, slipping through it as it slid smoothly closed again after him. Now he stood in front of them, standing as tall as he could manage, though he was still dwarfed by the height of all three Nekross looming around him. Two bodyguards had moved inside with him, warily staring at the aliens and trying not to display their too-obvious fear. Varg noted their fear and snarled in their direction, pleased at their reaction as they flinched back, hands creeping to their stun-guns on their belts.

"What are you going to do, aliens?" Adams asked with a smile. He obviously knew he had won. "Overpower me and my hundred guards, and avoid getting your faces plastered over the news? Good luck with that. We are too strong for you to escape now."

Lexi met Tom's eyes briefly, and Tom gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.

That was all they needed.

In one movement, Lexi's arms shot forward and shoved Adams hard, sending him falling backwards with an alarmed cry. In the same instant, her brother spun around, his steel-gloved hand impacting fast and hard with one of the bodyguard's stomach. Jathro, surprisingly, didn't hesitate to take out the other one, pushing him as hard as he could into the electric door and looking satisfied as he collapsed in a quivering heap. While Ursula and Michael could only watch in amazement as the Nekross effectively solved their problem for them - the magic boost obviously having helped at least Jathro immeasurably - Tom stepped forward and clicked his fingers. Adams - who Lexi had pushed backwards into the restraints that Varg had been trapped in - gave a cry of frustrated realisation as the cuffs shot closed around his flailing wrists and ankles, effectively imprisoning him.

"What were you saying? Something about... we have no chance of escaping?" Tom wanted to know, a smirk now resting on his teenage features.

"I think that probability has increased somewhat now in our favour," Lexi informed him, a similar look on her face to the young wizard's.

Adams struggled desperately, thrashing almost as hard as Varg had previously in his bonds. "Let me go!" he ordered, the look of horrified surprise almost comical as he realised that his carefully-laid plans were falling apart right in front of him.

Tom pretended to think, one finger hovering around his chin. "Um - I think the answer's going to have to be no to that one, sorry," he said, feigning an apologetic tone.

Their ex-captor looked around in panic, scanning the two motionless figures unconscious on the floor, and widening his eyes at the other six guards outside. They could only gesture, helpless to do anything. In his paranoia, Adams had made it so that he was the only one with the remote to open the glass prison - which was now inside with him, still held loosely in his trapped hand.

"Do you know what your failure was?" continued Tom. "It was the belief that wizards and aliens couldn't work together if they had to. Neither of us could have escaped on our own, but magic and Nekross strength combined - you didn't have a hope of stopping that."

"Okay, Tom Clarke, enough of the theatrics," ordered Lexi, though her eyes were narrowed in an attempt not to betray her amusement at the wizard's antics. "Let's go! We're not out yet."

"But we're about to go on air!" pleaded Adams, eyes wide. "I'm about to become known to around half a billion people!"

"Maybe you should have thought of that when you went in to gloat," advised Michael through the glass. "Goodbye, Adams. Don't try to contact us again."

Varg moved forward and easily prised open Adam's hand, however tightly he tried to grip onto his last change of salvaging this situation which had turned so easily against him. The male Nekross passed the free remote to Lexi and spat at Adams' feet with a growl. "That's for harming my sister," he hissed.

Lexi held out a single hand to Tom, ignoring her brother's dark looks at the prospect of his sister actually openly getting along with the wizard enemy, however brief the partnership may be. "Shall we find another one of those doors once we get out of this glass box?" she inquired, finally deciding that if she held grudges like her brother did, they would never get anything done. Best just to forgive and forget, as human psychologists say.

Tom didn't hesitate this time around and took her hand. "Let's escape this place."

And escape they promptly did, leaving a furious Adams held immobile in his bonds behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

Tom couldn't quite believe it, but they were actually making their escape successfully. At every moment, the tensed prisoners expected a sneering Adams to step smugly around the corner, or a group of guards to come with their stun pulse guns again to knock them out. However, it looked like every patrol was on high alert; Tom was guessing that Adams had radioed them to get him out. Easier said than done when Adams had kept the only digital key to the prison, which Lexi now had possession of. Unfortunately, this meant there would probably be a bit of a bigger search for the escapees, if only to hunt Lexi and the key down. They had to move quickly.

Varg and Lexi, at Tom's whispered suggestion, easily took out the two men standing guard around the door that Michael and Ursula reliably informed them would lead to the exit (hopefully). Lexi slipped up behind one and stabbed a taut finger just behind his ear, dropping him silently as the man drifted into happy sleep on the floor. Varg chose to bodyslam the other, then bodyslam the door soon afterwards, which wilted miserably in its hinges. No guessing what his chosen fighting technique was.

"We made it!" announced Tom, beyond relieved by this point as Jathro got to work on dismantling the rest of the door so they could get out.

Varg actually gave a half smile. "Yes, wizard. We did," he agreed gruffly.

The red skinned Nekross straightened up, the door swinging open on one hinge. "We have our escape route, my excellencies."

Ursula was still jumpy. "Oh c'mon, you lot," she said quickly. "They might catch up with us any minute. Let's go! Michael can drive us all out of here, since your teleporting thing is disabled, Varg."

Varg gave his bare wrist armour a dirty look.

"I have to agree with the hag," Lexi noted, sounding slightly surprised that this statement ever left her lips. Suddenly, the Nekross grimaced in pain as the iron fist that was all that was left of her stomach clamped tighter, feeling like it was twisting her insides into a giant tangled knot. "Varg," she yelped, and her brother was swift to slip a strong arm around her waist as Lexi's legs nearly gave out underneath her.

Tom spun from where he had been studying the door that was the key to their escape. "Lexi!" He turned to demand an explanation from her worried-looking brother. "What did Adams -?"

"It was nothing to do with that snivelling, cowardly weasel!" Varg replied aggressively.

"Then what?" Tom searched his memory of the last few hours for an answer, since Varg didn't look like he was keen on giving any explanations. Sure enough, the solution came to him, though not a welcome one.

"How long since you last ate?" Tom wanted to know, his voice concerned. Since they ate magic, his subconscious reminded him pointedly. Since they drained the magic out of unsuspecting wizards and ate it. They're your enemies.

But Tom ignored the quiet voice of warning, only able to look at Lexi and the suppressed pain in her eyes as she struggled to stand without her brother's supportive shoulder against hers.

"We can do without sustenance for longer than you puny humans," Varg informed them bitterly as his only cryptic answer.

"How long?" Tom repeated insistently.

Varg's gaze dropped, giving up on the deception. "Just over four weeks," he muttered.

"Without food?!"

Tom turned to look at the two royals, for the first time really looking at them. For the first time he noticed the paleness of Lexi's usually bright, golden scales, the dark shadows around Varg's defiant eyes, how unnaturally thin both royals were.

"You're starving," he noted, but this time the simple statement had the full realisation behind it, the full guilt. He hadn't realised how close the two royals were to the edge, though he knew that he had suspected, back in the prison. He had just pushed it aside, tried to forget about it, since thinking about the prospect was too much. Maybe that was the problem of all the wizarding race.

"We need no pity from you," Varg spat, the very action making the Nekross prince visibly wince.

"I'm not pitying you. Though I do have an idea," countered Tom. "But we're going to need to postpone our escape for just a few minutes if we want to carry it out..."

This suggestion had mixed reactions, understandably. Varg immediately shook his head sharply, announcing that the Nekross needed no help from wizarding scum. (Tom didn't bother pointing out to him that he had already helped them with the whole escaping issue.) Jathro looked jumpy and desperate to just bolt - though Tom suspected that might be his usual countenance anyway, so it didn't really count. "Tom, this is the exit, right here!" Michael was trying to coerce him, gesturing to the now-sagging door. "They might find us again, and then we'll be in real trouble."

But Tom only really saw Lexi, and the slight hope in her eyes at his promise of an idea to stop them starving to death.

"We're in real trouble now," pointed out the young wizard to his dad, gesturing to the aliens standing next to them in the corridor. "Please. We got this far, we have to help them."

It was Ursula who made the final decision. "Okay, Tom," she agreed softly. "What do you have in mind?"

* * *

Tom led them, hurrying, down several clinical corridors, hoping he remembered the way like he thought he did. Eventually, the wizard skidded to a halt as they found themselves outside an office door, labelled 'Mr Adams'. "It should be in here," Tom said optimistically.

"What should, Thomas?" Ursula voiced the question lingering on everybody's lips.

Tom didn't reply and just pushed the mercifully unlocked office door open, revealing a fairly typical office, with surveillance camera screens on one wall along with a computer.

"I remember this room," noted Lexi unexpectedly. "This was where I deleted our data from their systems last time. Not very well, apparently, since they appear to still have most of it."

"Who will believe them without their promised prisoners?" Michael reassured her, unable to quite believe that he was comforting an alien.

Meanwhile, Tom had headed over to a large filing cabinet in the other corner, staring at it. "Where would I put my expensive invention if I was as paranoid as Adams is?" he wondered under his breath. "I'm guessing in here."

The rest of the alliance gathered around the filing cabinet with the young wizard as Tom raised his voice above a murmur again. "I have no more spells," Tom said sadly. "And Gran's going to need her last one for what I have in mind. Does anyone know how to break locks?"

Varg rolled his eyes as Ursula started to offer tentative solutions, frowning. "Wizards." He drew back his fist and let it fly towards the cupboard doors, smashing into it with a huge crash. How he had enough energy to do that when he hasn't eaten for weeks was beyond Tom.

"Punching things is actually your solution to everything, isn't it?" Lexi noted, a weak smile gracing her features as she tried to take most of her own weight back onto her feet again.

Varg shrugged as best as he could in a heavily armoured suit. "It's what we did before ray guns - hey, my gun!"

Now it was Lexi's turn to roll her eyes as Varg fell upon the confiscated weapon as if they were personal long-lost friends. She took her own ray gun, slipping it into the holster on her hip and smirking, despite feeling as if she could pass out from hunger at any second. Now the odds were slightly more even.

Tom rummaged through the large store cupboard, dislodging piles of papers until he found what he was looking for: a large grey box flanked by two speakers, with a dish attached to the top with a trailing wire. "Found it!" he announced, lifting it out of the cabinet with a grunt of effort and setting it down on the floor.

Ursula and Michael both nodded, recognising it immediately, but the resident aliens in the room looked suspiciously on. "What?" Varg voiced.

"This is the magic enhancing thing that Adams used to lure you down to Earth," Tom informed them he pushed the power plug into the wall socket, activating it with a flourish. "It magnifies our magic by 35, so it appears extra strong. Even a small spell will do it."

Lexi and Jathro both drew back in unison, distrust and fear flashing over their expressions, while Varg just aimed his gun vaguely in its direction. "Trickery, wizards," he growled.

"No! No!" Tom was quick to assure them. "I'm not going to use it like Adams did to trick you! But you're starving, and I have an idea. Does anyone have any spells left?"

Ursula nodded, finally realising what Tom's idea had been all along, although her eyes were unsure. "Do you think this is the right thing to do, Tom?" she whispered to him, trying to ignore the burning gazes of three weakened aliens on her back.

Tom nodded back, his eyes older than any teenager's should be. "I'm positive, Gran. Just do it."

Ursula took a deep breath, staring at the magic magnifier (as Tom was now privately calling it) and clicked her fingers, murmuring the familiar magical words under her breath. "Par man fasarh!"

Swirling pink-purple magic flowed out of the crystal in Ursula's staff and was immediately sucked into the dish-like contraption, travelling down the tube and disappearing into the main body of the machine. A moment later it began to whir, and the humans took an involuntary step back.

Immediately Varg, Lexi and Jathro felt it in the air, thick with magic, although there. A sudden, wondering smile came on Lexi's face as the first traces of the substance drifted lethargically into her nostrils and she tasted the sweetness of the food that she had desperately craved for what seemed like much longer than a few weeks.

Varg continued to scowl, not registering what was going on at first, before he inhaled and magic rushed into his mouth and nose all at once. The radiant look of relief that spread almost instantly across the usually aloof prince's face was so unlike him that Tom had to smile himself.

Tom had never thought that he'd actually enjoy watching the Nekross feast on the foodstuff that both races needed in very different ways, but maybe now was time to make a slight exception to that rule.

 _A/N) One more chapter to go!_


	15. Chapter 15

Full at last.

Lexi stepped back a pace or two once she had finished eating all she could, her eyes closing rapturously as she felt the hot, swirling sensation swilling comfortably in her stomach that she hadn't felt for so long. Varg was beside her, magic still furling itself willingly into his tentacles as the last of the magic dissipated around them. Even Jathro, who had recently feasted on more magic than he had ever had before, was drinking it hungrily in around him, knowing he would probably never get an equivalent meal again due to his social standing.

Normally this sight would make Tom sick: aliens feeding on the stuff that wizards fought so hard to protect. But somehow, the blissful look on Lexi's face and the rare gratitude and relief on Varg's made it all worthwhile.

"Now that was a good meal," Lexi noted finally, taking a deep breath and staring with renewed vision around the room they stood in, her veins feeling like they were spilling over with life and energy.

Tom was looking excited. "You know -" he started breathlessly, pointing at the device at his feet. "This could be the answer. You don't need to hunt down wizards any longer. This could be it - if just that simple spell could feed all three of you, we could easily make it bigger, try and supply the magic for an entire Nekross race. We could get Benny and his MIT brain to supe it up, make it much more than 35 magnification."

Lexi looked uncertain, but hope shone in her eyes as she searched the object. "It could work," she agreed tentatively. "We wouldn't have to hunt any longer, wouldn't have to starve. But do you know the amount of wizard spells it would take to feed our entire planet, even 'suped up', as you say?"

"Do you know the amount of wizards you take and extract all the time?" Tom countered. "I'm sure wizards would be a lot more willing to give a spell rather than their magic, quite honestly."

"True." Lexi considered it, tentacles curling as she thought it over.

"This magic is weak," interrupted Varg. "It is diluted already, that is why we drank so much just the three of us. If we diluted it any more it would bear no sustenance. We are a starving technological race - do you think we haven't thought of solutions such as the ones you offer?"

"Well I'm willing to bet you never considered working with us, not against us," argued Tom.

"Oh, let's go!" interrupted Ursula. "Let's not just wait around for Adams to come and catch us. C'mon, Tom, Nekross... let's go!"

Lexi, ignoring Varg's disapproving look, picked the generator box and the magnifying dish up with little effort, and made to follow. They could argue it out later.

"There you are!" breathed a voice.

The escaped group turned as one with wide eyes, staring at a smug-looking Adams in another doorway beside the desk that Tom had assumed just led to some storeroom or other. He was holding a ray gun not dissimilar to Varg's and Lexi's, which both royals fingered at the sight of their enemy. Jathro looked without much hope at his own gun holster, which swung empty at his waist. "Oops," he offered hopefully.

"Did you really think I could be trapped as easily as that imbecile Gaunt was? That you could just trap her inside the cell and make your escape? Well, that may have succeeded if you hadn't gone back into the lion's den," commented Adams somewhat hoarsely. "And all for what - a magic magnifier?"

"That may be the key to saving a starving species," informed Lexi sharply.

"Aww." Adams tilted his head to one side mockingly. "What a pity you'll never get to take it to them." He pointed the gun at Jathro, who was closest and flinched back nervously. "Move."

"Oh, I don't think so," muttered Lexi, and both she and Varg moved as one, two royals at full strength once again descending on Adams, whose eyes widened as he automatically raised his gun. A shot went off. The wizards gasped and Tom searched for where it had hit, though no-one had as of yet fallen to the ground. As Adams prepared to fire again, Varg moved up behind him and pulled both arms brusquely behind his back, yanking the gun from his tight grasp. Adams cried out and stared helplessly at his newfound captors, Varg now smiling widely.

"Is anyone hurt?" Tom inquired.

"No," replied Lexi, though there was a strange, sorrowful note to her voice as she turned around, revealing the blackened, smoking hole in the magic magnifier. "But this was hit."

"But -" Tom was lost for words, staring at their lost solution that had seemed so close and now seemed just like another hopeful dream.

"We can make another one - right?" Ursula asked quickly, obviously itching to just leave.

Adams grinned despite his current situation. "Good luck with that," he offered sarcastically.

Varg wrenched his shoulders back tighter, making the man yelp. "Shut up," he ordered in a bored-sounding tone, and Adams obeyed meekly, since there was only so many snarky comments you could make with a ray gun and an angry alien at your back.

"Now, if you don't mind, we're leaving," Lexi said, placing the broken object carefully down at her feet and stepping over it. "If any of your men try to stop us, we shoot you immediately, understand?"

Adams nodded frantically, begging Tom with his eyes, who ignored him with satisfaction. "But what are you going to do to me?" he asked in terror as Varg forced him forwards, following a hurrying Ursula and Michael out of the door.

Lexi shrugged as she marched. "Probably the same fate as befell your dear boss Stephanie Gaunt. The Nekross aren't the only starving ones on that ship, you know, and the Skorpulus hasn't had a good meal in so long."

Adams stiffened in fear and didn't ask again, his mouth opening and closing uselessly.

They reached the exit in double-quick time owing to the newfound energy of the Nekross royals setting a speedy stride. They passed a group of worried guards on the way, who Adams mouthed at frantically. The guards just gestured helplessly, signalling there was nothing they could do while the alien held their superior. Varg snarled at them for good measure, pulling Adams victoriously past them through the doorway as they finally made their escape.

"So - the next time we see each other...?" Tom started hesitantly once they were out in the enclosed parking lot, feeling the topic needed to be breached.

Lexi knew what he was going to ask before the sentence reached its trailing end. "Friends," she replied with a small smile. "Let's try and be friends. You saved us today, Tom. And that, I will never forget."

"Let's go!" both Varg and Michael said in impatient unison to their respective groups, then cast distrustful looks at each other. Tom and Lexi had to stifle smiles.

"Goodbye, Lexi," Tom said softly as Ursula pulled him away.

"Goodbye - Tom," the Nekross princess replied quickly as the wizards hurried away across the carpark to their single car standing isolated in the centre.

"You know, Tom, saving the Nekross -" Ursula's frown was evident as she stared at Tom, an unreadable emotion in her grey eyes.

"I know, Gran," Tom sighed, looking back at her beseechingly. "But we had to. We couldn't just leave them there. And we had to at least try to save their species."

Ursula laid a hand on her grandson's shoulder, smiling somewhat sadly. He cared too much, even about aliens that had ruthlessly hunted them down for years now. "I know, Tom. I know."

"Let's go home, Gran," Tom said with a wistful smile.

His gran nodded, squeezing his shoulders with both hands and opening the car door for the young wizard to get in. "Let's go."

* * *

Lexi watched with an odd expression in her eyes from her position through the glass-paned door, watching Tom head off across the carpark, his gran's arm around his waist and his dad sticking close to his side as they left the place that they had hoped never to have to go back to.

"Lexi," her brother said firmly. Adams was begging now, squirming in his arms, but Varg ignored him.

"I'm coming."

"Let's _go_ , Lexi," Varg repeated insistently as Lexi still didn't move.

"Yes." Lexi flashed a final glance back at Tom as he climbed into the car, before turning and meeting her brother's eyes, smiling softly. "Let's go home."

 _A/N) And that's the end of this story - and probably my contributions to this fandom, as well. It was fun, WvA watchers, but I have to concede that I'm mostly writing for other shows now, and although Tom and Lexi will always hold a special place in my heart, I have other obsessions that I need to feed. Hope you enjoyed this story nonetheless! :D_


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